1855 United States Tycoon

Beijing in March is already very springy. Although it is still cold in the morning and evening, the thick ice on the Zhongnanhai has also melted. It is no longer possible to see various waterfowls playing in the water. The weeping willows by the lake also sprout new buds the size of rice grains, and they are especially lovable. It's just that the spring in Beijing is not a suitable season for enjoyment, because generally speaking, in March and April, when the wind and sand in Beijing are strong, when the wind and sand rise, the entire sky becomes pale yellow. If someone goes out because of an emergency at this time, but forgets to close the window and rushes back, they will find that the own desk has been covered with a thin layer of light yellow fine sand.

However, the weather today is exceptionally good. From early in the morning, there has been no wind. Since there is no wind, there will naturally be no wind and sand. At noon, the sun also seemed extra warm, and the sky became extraordinarily blue and high.

Empress Dowager Cixi, the true ruler of the Qing Empire, has just finished the early dynasty and is returning to Zhongnanhai with Emperor Guangxu. Empress Dowager Cixi now lives in Fengze Garden in Zhongnanhai, while Guangxu is arranged to live in Yingtai in Zhongnanhai.

Yingtai is a small island surrounded by water, connected to the land by only a bridge. After the Wuxu coup, Cixi has always paid close attention to Emperor Guangxu. This is especially true after the Gengzi Change. Cixi now chooses to live in Zhongnanhai instead of her former residence in the Chuxiu Palace in the Forbidden City. To a large extent, it is also considering that Yingtai is a place suitable for house arrest, the Emperor Guangxu who lacks political wisdom and self-knowledge. .

Cixi is now more than 70 years old, and her body is not as good as before. Before the Emperor Xianfeng was still there. When she was an imperial concubine, she helped Emperor Xianfeng to review the memorials and deal with the Hongyang chaos in the southeast. After busy with the ugliness, but still very energetic, now it's just over half an hour to go to the dynasty, and I feel very tired. Although Li Lianying often said that the Queen Mother of the Virgin has strong bones and can live for one thousand and ten thousand years. But Cixi knew that it was just to make her happy.

"There is no one in the world who can live for a thousand and ten thousand years, that would not become an old monster." Cixi knew that his life was running out, but Death actually was not particularly terrifying her, although the rumors on her in the market weren't Shao, what poisoned Ci'an, what kind of noodles, what kind of a large part of a large part. She also accused her of lusting for power, slaying ministers, and infringing on imperial power. But Cixi didn't care, just wiped them off like a cobweb. Because she felt that everything she did was for the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, and the decisions she made were the most in line with the interests of the Qing Dynasty. Although she has not been able to reinvigorate the Qing Dynasty, if she does not have her hard work, if she really handed over the power to Guangxu, let him play mischief, I am afraid it will be over early in the morning. Therefore, she felt that even if she was dead, she would have the face to meet the ancestors of the Aixinjueluo family when she went underground.But when I think about the situation in the Qing Dynasty after his death, Cixi is really a little frightened. The current Emperor Guangxu is obviously not a weapon. He only saw power, but didn't see what the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's power was, and where the Qing Dynasty's imperial power came from. He thought that with his status as the emperor, he would be able to make the world surrender, but he didn't know how weak the foundation of the imperial power of the Manchu Dynasty was now. It needed to be very careful and cautious to use various techniques to maintain it.

After the Hong-Yang Rebellion, almost half of Hanchen was the governor of the world, and there was even a clear trend of separatism in the southeast area. Zuo Zongtang even wrote to Zeng Guofan, taking advantage of the opportunity to write couplets for Shendingshan, he wrote "God relies on morality; the weight of the tripod, it seems that you can ask Yan." This is obviously full of irresponsibility Heart text. The southeastern region is already in a semi-separated situation. The Southeastern Mutual Insurance in the Gengzi Nian is very obvious, and the Manchurians actually have no power to suppress them, they can only use them by virtue of their status. The conflict of interests between them, as well as the different interests of foreigners and them, rely on means to play a balance. Therefore, even if there is a rebellious Southeast Mutual Guarantee, Cixi must finally commit a crime and admit that the governors are completely correct. Such a thing was unimaginable in the time of Kang Qian Yong, but now...maintaining such a balance requires extremely high skill, and Emperor Guangxu obviously has no such ability.

It's not just that Guangxu didn't have this ability. Among the entire Manchu, once Cixi died, no one would still have this ability. Over the years, no matter what they are doing, the outstanding people are not Manchurians. In this sense, Cixi has no successor, and this makes Cixi even more terrified.

Just now when she took Emperor Guangxu to the edge of the Yingtai, Cixi suddenly coughed due to a slight breeze, almost out of breath. Although Emperor Guangxu made an extraordinarily filial piety to his "pro-dad", Cixi still saw a glimmer of joy in his eyes.

Emperor Guangxu hated her, Cixi knew this. Because in his opinion, she took away the power that should have belonged to him. This is natural. But to her disappointment, even after experiencing so many things, Emperor Guangxu still did not grow at all, even the most basic ability to conceal his own emotions. There is no such forbearance, so if one day he really regains authority, I am afraid that it will immediately break the balance that Cixi has spent countless efforts to maintain.

"I can't let myself be buried in the grave even if I die." Cixi couldn't help thinking like this.

After entering Fengze Garden, Li Lianying helped Cixi sit down. After resting for a while, drinking a cup of ginseng soup, Cixi's spirit recovered again. So she asked Li Lianying, "Are there any notes left today."

"The Queen Mother has been busy for a day today, and she doesn't take a break." Li Lianying said softly.

"Take a rest, Ai Jia thinks, but who of them can let Ae Jia take a rest?" Cixi sighed, shook her head and said, "You can't take a break, unless... Can't take a break!...Go! Bring those folds over."

The Qing Empire is so big, there are naturally many messy things every day. Among them, there is one kind of thing that Cixi is most concerned about, and that is the affairs of the gang of revolutionary parties. To be honest, these revolutionary parties have very limited capabilities. Compared with Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, they don’t know how much difference they were. Went to a foreign country. If such a thing was before the Hong Yang Rebellion, it would not be worth mentioning. It can even be classified as a criminal case. It’s just that the Qing Dynasty today has a lot more guns and guns than the Qing Dynasty at that time, but it is much weaker, and even a little bit of disturbance may cause the balance to be subverted. Therefore, these chaos Although the party has no abilities, it has no choice but to guard against it.

"That gang messing up the party and spreading rumors that the Ai family is going to kill the emperor?" Turning to a certain memorial, Cixi was taken aback. This surprise is actually not because the rumors made by the chaotic party are too despicable, but it seems that these words suddenly touched something she didn't want to think about before. So she read it seriously...

After a while, Cixi raised her head and asked Li Lianying, "Where is the newspaper mentioned in this memorial?"

"If you return to the Queen Mother, the newspaper is a newspaper of the chaotic party, and it is full of crazy and paradoxical words, which is unsightly..." Li Lianying knelt down and replied.

"The newspapers of the troubled party naturally don't say good things about Laijia." Cixi smiled. "Honestly speaking, have there been fewer people scolding Laijia in various ways over the years? What's the big deal? Okay, let’s give it to you. Aier's family, take it over and take a look."

"Hey." Li Lianying responded and went down. Although reading this article may not be good for the Queen Mother, but since the Queen Mother has decided to read it, he would never dare to read it. Although Li Lianying is the so-called great eunuch, the power and status of the great eunuch in the Qing Dynasty are still very limited. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, it is simply scum, and it is even more incomparable with my big man and my data. It can be seen from this that the Manchus were indeed barbarians and discriminated against the disabled. Since Zulong, the orthodox unified dynasty has never made the status of eunuchs so low.

After a while, the newspaper was handed to Cixi's hands. Cixi took the reading glasses that Li Lianying handed over and put on them, and asked, "Where is that article?"

"The Queen Mother, right here." Li Lianying hurriedly helped Cixi turn the newspaper to the second page, pointing to the article on the headline. In this era of Asia, the first edition of newspapers is often not official content, but various advertisements, and the people's newspapers, which have been short of money, are naturally no exception. So its second edition is equivalent to our current front page. Cixi first looked at the author of the article, and then said with a smile:

"Zhang Jiang's essays have also been read by Laijia, and he is considered a very knowledgeable person. At the beginning, he scolded the emperor happily, but unfortunately it was a chaotic party..."

But as she continued to look down, the smile on her face disappeared, her eyes opened wide, and the hand holding the newspaper shook.

"The Queen Mother, please don't be angry, for such a ignorant rebellious courtier, it is not worth it to be angry..." Li Lianying said quickly.

"The Aijia is not angry, but a little tired." At this time, Cixi had finished reading this article. She threw the newspaper on several cases next to her casually, then leaned back on the back of the armchair, closed her eyes, took off the reading glasses, handed it to Li Lianying, and held her forehead with the other hand.

Li Lianying borrowed reading glasses, then gently picked up the newspaper, wanting to take it out.

"Just put it there." Cixi's tired voice suddenly sounded in his ear, "Just put it there first. I'll look at it again later."

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